


The Honored Dead

by AimeeLouWrites



Series: Cursed to Strife [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Actually Everyone Needs A Hug, Alternate Universe, Angst, Cloud Strife Needs a Hug, Dimension Travel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hugs, and they get some!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27690344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AimeeLouWrites/pseuds/AimeeLouWrites
Summary: Cloud arrives in a new dimension to see a statue of...himself.
Relationships: Angeal Hewley & Cloud Strife, Genesis Rhapsodos & Cloud Strife, Zack Fair & Cloud Strife
Series: Cursed to Strife [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016314
Comments: 47
Kudos: 383





	The Honored Dead

**Author's Note:**

> Technically a crossover between [Seventh Circle, Ninth Sphere](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24745888) (which has art of the statue in question in the final chapter if you wish to see it) and Cursed to Strife, but like most of the universes poor Cloud visits you don't actually need to know what went on. If you do it will hurt you more though :3c

Cloud found himself staring at a grand golden statue of…himself. He tilted his head a little. No, of his  _ younger _ self—statue-Cloud’s cheeks were still rounded with the youthful softness he hadn’t lost until Hojo’s labs. Something very different must have happened in this world. The younger Cloud was dressed in a full First Class uniform, but had a sword similar to First Tsurugi in his hand.

Too curious to help himself, Cloud stepped up onto the edge of the fountain that surrounded the statue. His doppelganger’s expression was somewhere between serene and grim, and his free hand was outstretched, as if offering aid. He noticed a small golden plaque on the statue’s base, nearly lost in the dimness of twilight. Crouching to get a closer look, he read the engraving.

_ Cloud Strife _ _  
_ _ SOLDIER First Class _ __  
_ Brother, Leader, Hero _ _  
_ __ 1986 - 2002

Cloud felt a pang of sadness for this lost counterpart of his, and for whoever had loved him enough to make this monument. Poor kid. He’d only been sixteen.

“... _ Cloud?” _

Reflexively, he turned to the voice. Zack was standing just a few feet away from where Cloud was crouched on the edge of the fountain. He looked like the Zack who had died for Cloud on those cliffs, though he lacked the distinctive scar on his jaw. His eyes were wide with disbelief and growing hope, darting between Tsurugi on his back and the sword in the statue’s hands.

Quickly, Cloud shook his head and stepped down, unwilling to hurt Zack with false hope. “Not your Cloud. Sorry.”

Zack’s brows came together. “Not... _ my _ Cloud?” He peered closer, confusion twisting at his lips as he took in the long messy blond hair and the mature cut of his jaw. Cloud looked quite a bit different from the statue, on closer inspection. Unsurprising, given that he had at least a decade of wear and tear on the kid.

“Not that one, no,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder at the statue. “I came from another world entirely.”

Zack was silent for a long time, watching him and occasionally glancing at the statue. He had a little bouquet of flowers—Aerith’s flowers—in his hands, apparently forgotten. “Okay,” he said at last, softly. “What are you doing here, then?”

Leave it to Zack to adapt to the absurd so quickly. Cloud couldn’t quite suppress a fond smile. “Short story, I’m cursed to bounce around dimensions. I’ll be gone in a few hours.”

He processed that for a moment. “So, you wouldn’t have anything better to do than come back to the Tower with me?”

Cloud sighed. Of course he would ask for that. “Why?”

Zack laughed a little, rubbing at the back of his head and glancing away for a very brief second. “Well, I...honestly, I don’t think I could stand to let any version of you out of my sight right now.”

He was setting himself up to be hurt, if that was the case. “Zack, I’m just going to vanish into the next dimension. That’s not really going to be much better than just letting me go now.”

His earnest, pleading expression was painful to look at. “Please.”

Dammit. Cloud shut his eyes, trying to find the will to refuse the man whose friendship spanned realities. He couldn’t. “Alright.”

Zack huffed a relieved laugh, crossing the distance between them in three long strides. Cloud wasn’t surprised when he was pulled into a very tight hug. “Thank you,” the other man murmured into his hair.

Cloud rolled his eyes a little where Zack couldn’t see, but it was fond. “Yeah, yeah, anything for you, Zack.”

Zack pulled back  _ (eventually) _ and grabbed his hand, taking out his PHS with his free hand and hitting speed-dial as he dragged Cloud toward the Tower. Cloud sighed and let him, keeping an eye on their surroundings out of habit. It was interesting to note that more than one passerby did a double-take on seeing him.

“Hi, Gen,” Zack said into the PHS, “just uh, a weird heads up, but I was dropping flowers off at the monument and—what?”

Cloud paid barely half an ear to Zack’s discussion, growing tense as more and more people stared at him in disbelief. Their eyes lingered on his hair or the sword strapped to his back.

Zack was too busy talking to notice.  _ “Yes, _ I left one for each of us. Geez, I forget one time and—no that’s not the point. Listen. This is important. There was an uh, alternate universe version of Cloud in front of the monument and I’m bringing him... _ no, _ it’s not a prank! I wouldn’t do that to you! I—yeah. Yes. Ok, hold on.”

Cloud startled as the hand dragging him along suddenly let go and an arm was slung around his shoulders instead. “Smile, Cloudy!” Zack said, holding his phone up and snapping a selfie before Cloud could do much more than blink at it. Then, just as quickly as it had been dropped, his hand was grabbed again and Zack was once again dragging him along.

“Look, see? I’m not joking. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I  _ know. _ I uh...actually, hold on.” Zack glanced back at him without slowing his pace at all. “Hey, Cloud, do you mind if we’re all weird about this?”

Cloud rolled his eyes—as if it was possible to  _ not _ be weird about this. He sucked his teeth and said, “as long as no one tries to kiss me, then sure.”

Zack looked at him oddly. “Kiss?”

“I’m not romantically interested in any of you.”

Zack blanched so hard he nearly faceplanted. It was only a quick yank from Cloud that saved him.  _ “WHAT!” _ he squeaked, voice climbing several octaves. “Romanti—they practically  _ raised _ you! Well, Angeal did. Genesis was just kind of there.”

_ “Hey!” _ came a voice from the phone, very faintly.

Cloud shrugged. By this point, he’d seen everything. Barring sexual advances, it was hard to phase him. “In that case, feel free to be as weird as you want.”

Zack, looking faintly disturbed, went back to his conversation. “Yeah. Yes, I know. Well, I—what, who’s gonna stop me? Yeah. Ok fine, come meet us then. Fine. See you soon.” He rolled his eyes and hung up, stuffing his PHS back in his pocket. He looked back at Cloud, smiling, and finally seemed to notice how tense the blond was. “What? What’s wrong?”

“...people are staring.”

“Oh. Oh, right it’s uh...you’re not used to it?”

_ “No. _ What did he do?”

“I mean, he...kind of grew up as a star SOLDIER? He was in Wutai with Sephiroth.”

Cloud stared for a long second. “I’m...almost scared to ask, but how old was he? In Wutai?”

“Six.”

“Six and fighting?”

“Six and absolutely  _ terrifying.” _

Probably a time-traveler, then. It happened. He still felt bad for the kid, though. “Right. And what was Sephiroth like, then?”

“...low-key psychopath, I guess? I never really saw anything, but Gen and Geal hate his guts. And he uh, was fighting with Cloud and they just sort of...vanished. We don’t actually know what happened to them.”

Both must have been time-travelers then. Ouch. He still would have put his current situation in first place in terms of miserable fuckery, but that sounded like a close second. “Hm.”

“Were things very different for you?” Zack asked as they entered the Shinra Tower’s lobby.

“Yes,” Cloud said shortly, catching sight of the two Commanders waiting for them to the side. They started walking as soon as they caught sight of the two younger men, meeting them halfway.

Conspicuously, they couldn’t quite meet Cloud’s eyes, instead silently falling in around him. As they walked him to the elevator, a hush began to fall, slowly, rippling out through the crowd in the lobby. One by one, each employee went silent and still, eyes tracking Cloud’s bright head of hair, until only the sound of the four SOLDIER’s footfalls echoed around the cavernous lobby. Their group stepped into the elevator alone—out of respect or fear or just plain confusion, Cloud didn’t know. 

Just before the doors closed, a single voice from the silent crowd whispered,  _ “...Stormcloud?” _

Zack touched his shoulder. He’d missed the point where his friend had let go of his hand, but it was probably before they’d entered the building. Better that way. The SOLDIERs who belonged in this world were already going to have a difficult time explaining this. He realized, abruptly, that he was tense to the point of absolute stillness.

“You okay?” Zack asked.

Cloud huffed a laugh, consciously loosening his muscles one by one. “I spend my days with various people trying to kill me on sight, Zack. Being stared at tends to stress me out.”

Genesis and Angeal drew in sharp, simultaneous breaths.  _ “What?” _

Right. Zack hadn’t explained anything because  _ Cloud _ hadn’t explained anything. He sighed, glancing to either side at the Commanders who were staring at him with full-fledged paternal concern.

It was amusing. He decided it was amusing.

“Don’t worry,” he said simply. “I’m not allowed to die.”

Silence. 

Dead silence. He realized, belatedly, that his phrasing had probably done more to worry them than to...not.

So he was only a little surprised when Angeal suddenly pulled him into an all-encompassing hug. It seemed to be a constant across worlds, the force of his embraces. “Why does it always have to be you?” he asked in a voice so full of grief that it made Cloud’s eyes prickle involuntarily. “You don’t deserve any of this.”

Cloud snorted, leaning all his weight into Angeal—not for his own sake, but for the sake of a grieving...father? “You realize you don’t actually know anything about  _ me,  _ correct?”

“You’re still Cloud,” he answered without hesitation. “And I know Cloud. Maybe not the details, but I know you. I know the character of the man who came here out of selflessness, despite the fact that he owes us nothing.”

Cloud sighed in defeat, closing his eyes briefly and shifting his head so that his temple rested against Angeal’s collar. “Alright, alright, you win.”

The elevator dinged and Angeal reluctantly released him, letting Genesis step forward and take his place. Silent, obviously trying to control himself, the redhead led Cloud by a hand on the arm to an apartment—his own, Cloud guessed, or maybe Angeal’s. As soon as the door shut behind them, he took Cloud’s face in his hands and just…looked at him.

It was different, somehow, from the way the Zack of the previous world had taken his face in hand. There was no casual romantic intimacy. It was unquestionably platonic—and unpracticed, he guessed. 

Like Angeal, Genesis was so full of grief that it hurt Cloud to meet his eyes. His stomach turned. How could they possibly stand to look at him if it hurt them so much?

“You look tired, dear one,” Genesis whispered, instead of voicing whatever thoughts lingered in the ocean of grief behind his eyes.

Cloud managed a little smile, ignoring the lump in his throat, and put his hands over Genesis’s. The Commanders weren’t always good, didn’t always selflessly care for their fellow SOLDIERs, but these? He would have been proud to know these men, and he certainly didn’t want to see them hurting so deeply. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve had more sleep than usual over the past few worlds.”

But the grief deepend instead of abating. Genesis blinked hard, eyes fever-bright as his mouth trembled. “...that isn’t what I meant, Cloud.”

_ Shit. _ Maybe he shouldn’t have said yes to Zack if they were going to see through him so easily, these men who had apparently raised him. His breath caught in his throat. He had to close his eyes, fighting back tears of his own with limited success. “Yeah,” he managed to say. “I guess I am pretty tired.”

“Okay.” His head was tilted back a little as lips brushed lightly across his forehead. “Then rest, dear one. For as long as you’re here, you can rest, and we will keep watch for you.”

He wanted to go home.  _ Gaia, _ he just wanted to go home. But this? This, as all three of the SOLDIERs stepped in and embraced him? This, as he was shielded and the burden of keeping watch was taken from him? This, as he was allowed to  _ break, _ just for a moment, and know that they would hold his shattered pieces together? This, as they decided that loving his counterpart was reason enough to love  _ him? _

For now, this was good enough.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Come join me on Tumblr for illustrations and updates (and FF7 shitposts)](https://aimeelouart.tumblr.com/)   
>    
>  [ Also submarinedog made just the most amazing drawing of poor Zack's expression when Cloud mentioned kissing please go give it love](https://submarinedog.tumblr.com/post/635545029876809728/aimeelouart-haha-just-kidding-im-going-to)


End file.
